Fitaloon at MicroShaft

This is how Scotland is celebrating Global Warming:

Hundreds of skiers and snowboarders dressed for the summer have been enjoying a “carnival atmosphere” as the sun shone on a Highland ski resort.

About 200 snow sports fans took to the slopes at CairnGorm Mountain to enjoy the unseasonably warm temperatures of 21C on the slopes.

Operations manager Colin Matthew said skiing was still possible right down to mid-mountain level.

He said it was set to become one of the longest skiing seasons on record.

Mr Matthew said:

“CairnGorm today has had a real carnival atmosphere with the public out in shorts, shades , t-shirts and even the occasional kilt.

“The sledge park and the fun park have both been really popular today.

“Snow conditions are soft and a bit like summer skiing on a European glacier with the temperature on the top slopes well into the lower 20s – the only difference is that we’re short a few thousand feet on altitude here at CairnGorm.”

He added that he hoped skiing would continue until at least the Bank Holiday weekend at the end of May.

BBC News – Skiers enjoy carnival in the sun.

Every time I hear any news about Alex Salmond at the moment he is whinging about something.  It’s like listening to all three of my teenagers on a bad day.

It’s Alex’s belief that despite 80% of Scotland voting against him at the last General Election he somehow now is vastly superior to a Government backed  by 36% of Scotland, not a majority but a good proportion, and more than the 33% he achieved at the Holyrood elections and allows him, for  now, to try and claim he represents the whole of Scotland.

Alex should well remember this when he tries to claim his moral superiority over Cameron and Danny Alexander when they meet him today.

Now he also might look to how the Holyrood government has managed to get by for the past 3 years, with a spirit of cooperation, from many of the parties to allow things like the budget to pass.

Alex is obviously sorely disappointed that his band of 6  MP’s at Westminster, rather than the hoped for 20, have failed to be involved in a “Rainbow” coalition  which  tried so hard to become part of but was rejected almost out-of-hand by the Labour Party, but he should cut the whinging and start to look at this positively.

Scotland has come to the recession late and is now coming out of recession later then most of the rest of the UK, this will need to be noted. The unemployment rate in Scotland has now risen higher than the national average and with the Financial Area still struggling to some extent Scotland can claim it needs some extra support but listening and watching  Salmond at the moment is like watching an Ostrich with its head in the sand.

Salmond has got to come to the realisation, that the whole of the UK is in an utter mess and that the strings have got to be tightened on the previously bottomless Treasury purse. He has the right to demand a good deal for Scotland but he cannot ignore what is going on any longer.

If Alex wants real respect fro Scotland then he has to equally have respect for the UK government to rule. Until he does this he may find that his whinging has no impact on the Liberal Conservative Coalition.

It’s time for Alex to stop whinging and get on  with life after his shocking General Election campaign and results. In many ways he is lucky that his party has not looked hard at what has happened and wondered if he is the right leader now.

BBC News – David Cameron in Scotland to meet SNP’s Alex Salmond.

Just a quick photo or two of the Trophy from the Badaguish Challenge that I mentioned last week.

Camp Campers from Aboyne Academy - Malcolm with the Trophy

All the Competitors

Outdoor Challenge – The best 2-day route finding competition for youngsters.

In all the hoo-haa about Bigotgate this was overshadowed. The SNP must be hopping that the £50,000 they raised to help their case resulted in little or no media attention and even less public exposure. Basically they have pissed the money up against a wall in a failed publicity stunt.

My feeling has always been that the debates shouldn’t be shown in Scotland on Normal (This is not a bigoted comment, honest) TV. If you really wanted to watch them they would be on Free to View channels or the regional channels you can pick up if required. The exclusion of the SNP gives undue advantage to other parties.

Stupidly though the SNP didn’t do this early enough as they tried to use the court case as a publicity event rather than a true attempt to ensure fairness in Scotland. They have paid the price for this, both on the ruling, and on the lack of publicity.

The ruling was as follows:

In her ruling, Lady Smith said the SNP’s demands would lead to

“wholesale disruption”

to the series of debates and would leave viewers with an

“incomplete picture”.

She stated:

“Whether one compares the debates to three rounds of a boxing competition, a three-course meal, a play in three acts or any similar convenient analogy, the planned event that is the series of leadership election debates is now two-thirds of the way through and has, thus far, taken place according to plan.”

The Nationalists are still seeking a judicial review of the decision to hold the debates between the leaders of the three main UK parties, with a two-day hearing due to take place in June.

SNP fails in Scottish court bid to block prime ministerial TV debate – Press & Journal.

Malcolm

Just found out my 15 year old middle son has , with his team, won the Badaguish Outdoor Challenge. Am incredibly proud. For four 15/16 year old boys to have won this challenge is an impressive performance. Last year in their first go they came 12th out of 88 teams.

Hopefully they will have also collected a few pounds for Charity as well.

No idea where he gets the ability to run as I was always stopping for a fly fag during school cross-country.

Hopefully more photos and news later on.

Outdoor Challenge – The best 2-day route finding competition for youngsters.